The novelist and screenwriter Geling Yan is among the most acclaimed figures of contemporary Chinese letters. Since the publication of her first work of fiction in 1985, she has written more than 20 books, received 30 awards, and has had her writing translated into 12 languages. She has also had several works adapted for film.
The most recent of these adaptations, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Chistian Bale, brought to life her fourth book translated into English, The Flowers of War. In this novel, Yan sought to tell the story, through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl named Shujuan, of the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Nanking in the late 1930s, and of the barbarism that its inhabitants were subjected to at the hands of the Japanese armed forces.
Little Aunt Crane, the fifth and most recent of Yan's works to be translated into English, shares many of the preoccupations of The Flowers of War. The novel chronicles the consequences of the collapse of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the final days of the Second World War. It does so by way of the experiences of a teenage girl, the 16-year-old Tatsuru.
When we join her at the beginning of the novel, the Japanese elders of the Manchurian village she inhabits are facing imminent defeat at the hands of the approaching Chinese. Rather than face the humiliation of being routed, the elders decide to preserve their honour by killing both themselves and the members of the settler communities for which they are responsible: “Stern and grim, the elders stood behind the village head as he announced their decision. He said: ‘We are Japanese, so we will die with dignity beside our fellow Japanese. The elders have done everything in their power to obtain sufficient bullets.’”
And so it proves. Everybody in the region is killed. Except, of course, young Tatsuru, who sees all of this take place, along with the death of her mother and siblings (“A grenade exploded next to Tatsuru’s mother, and when the smoke had cleared, Tatsuru no longer had a mother, brother or sister). As she attempts to escape their fate, she falls into the hands of traffickers and is sold to a wealthy Chinese family. At their hands, under the new name of Duohe, she is forced to become a secret second wife to the family’s only son, and to carry his children.
From this point, we follow Tatsuru’s – or Duohe’s – life with her new family across several decades, and as we do so we are introduced to the friendship she forms with the son’s first wife, Xiaohuan. There is some pleasure to be found in this part of the story, and Yan can prove adept at bringing to the page something of the quiet thrill of the closest and most supportive of relationships. She also writes knowledgeably about the realities of life under Maoist rule (of which Yan has first-hand experience), and there are signs that she might almost be capable of spinning a compelling narrative.
What stops her from achieving that, and what makes this book such a catastrophe, is the quality of Yan’s prose. To remark that we have here a collection of pages in which no stylistic crime goes uncommitted might seem unfair (this is, after all, a long book). Yet Yan’s talent for infelicity is such that she is able to commit all imaginable literary misdemeanours within the first 30 pages, and then treat the following 450 as a playground for aesthetic recidivism.
This is a novel, to confine myself to Yan’s capacity for cliché, in which people find themselves “in unusually high spirits”; events become “common knowledge”; tasks must be carried out “no matter what”; fellow travellers sleep “like the dead” (or fall “fast asleep”); and in which heels are “turned on” so that people can run “like the wind” – unable to “believe their ears” – from another round of gunfire that is sure to be described as having “rang out”.
One might ask whether Yan's responsibility for such writing is mitigated by the fact that this is a translation. I do not think it can be. Yan has enough English to have written in the language herself (as she did in the novel The Uninvited). She cannot have been unaware of the infelicities that appear under her name here. No story deserves to be told in such inert, stale and indecorous language. And no reader should be subjected to it.
Matthew Adams is based in London and writes for the TLS, The Spectator and the Literary Review.
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
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The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
'Nope'
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final, first leg:
Liverpool 5
Salah (35', 45 1'), Mane (56'), Firmino (61', 68')
Roma 2
Dzeko (81'), Perotti (85' pen)
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Fund-raising tips for start-ups
Develop an innovative business concept
Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors
Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19
Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.)
Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months
Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses
Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business
* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
